"Religion not the crying need of India ""Religion not the crying need of India"" was a lecture delivered by Indian Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda on 20 September 1893 at the Parliament of the World's Religions, Chicago. In this lecture he criticized Christian missionaries for ignoring the needs of starving millions in India. He said that Indians did not need any religious education, as there was already a surfeit of religion in the East; he stated that they needed ""bread"" to save their lives, which Christian missionaries did not provide. Swami Vivekananda represented India and Hinduism at the 1893 Parliament of"
"official languages, and the constitution recognises in particular 22 ""scheduled languages"". The 2011 census reported that the religion in India with the largest number of followers was Hinduism (79.80% of the population), followed by Islam (14.23%); the remaining were Christianity (2.30%), Sikhism (1.72%), Buddhism (0.70%), Jainism (0.36%) and others (0.9%). India has the world's largest Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Zoroastrian, and Bahá'í populations, and has the third-largest Muslim population—the largest for a non-Muslim majority country. Indian cultural history spans more than 4,500 years. During the Vedic period (c. 1700 – 500 BCE), the foundations of Hindu philosophy, mythology, theology and literature"
"Hinduism in India Hinduism is the largest religion in India, with 80% of the population identifying themselves as Hindus, that accounts for 1.2 billion Hindus in India as of National Census of India, while 14.2% of the population follow Islam and the remaining 6% adhere to other religions (such as Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, various indigenous ethnically-bound faiths, Atheism and Irreligion). The vast majority of Hindus in India belong to Shaivite and Vaishnavite denominations. India is one of the three countries in the world (Nepal and Mauritius being the other two) where Hinduism is the majority. The Vedic culture developed"
"India. Islam in India is the second largest religion with over 172 million Muslims, according to India's 2011 census. The Islamic festivals which are observed and are declared public holiday in India are; Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha (Bakri Eid), Milad-un-Nabi, Muharram and Shab-e-Barat. Some of the Indian states have declared regional holidays for the particular regional popular festivals; such as Arba'een, Jumu'ah-tul-Wida and Shab-e-Qadar. Christianity is India's third largest religion. With over 23 million Christians, of which 17 million are Roman Catholics, India is home to many Christian festivals. The country celebrates Christmas and Good Friday as public holidays. Regional and community"
"religions of India. Hindus are the largest in number, accounting for 87.45% of the population. Muslims (10.08%), Sikhs (1.27%), Jains (1%) and Sindhi's constitute the remaining of the population. The main religious festivals are Deepawali, Holi, Gangaur, Teej, Gogaji, Makar Sankranti and Janmashtami, as the main religion is Hinduism. Rajasthan's desert festival is celebrated with great zest and zeal. This festival is held once a year during winters. People of the desert dance and sing ballads of valor, romance and tragedy. There are fairs with snake charmers, puppeteers, acrobats and folk performers. Camels play a prominent role in this festival."
"to ""No Religion"" in India in the 2011 census 0.24% of India's population of 1.21 billion. Given below is the decade-by-decade religious composition of India until the 2011 census. There are six religions in India that have been awarded ""National Minority"" status - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis. Sunnis, Shias, Bohras, Agakhanis and Ahmadiyyas were identified as sects of Islam in India. As per 2011 census, six major faiths- Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains make up over 99.4% of India's 1.21 billion population, while ""other religions, persuasions"" (ORP) count is 8.2 million. Among the ORP faiths, six"
"many as 2.5 or 2.6 billion followers. Followers of Indian religions – Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists make up around 80–82% population of India. India is one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse nations in the world, with some of the most deeply religious societies and cultures. Religion plays a central and definitive role in the life of many of its people. Although India is a secular Hindu-majority country, it has a large Muslim population. Except for Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Lakshadweep, Hindus form the predominant population in all 29 states and 7 union territories."
"Muslims are present throughout India, with large populations in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Kerala, Telangana, West Bengal and Assam; while only Jammu and Kashmir and Lakshadweep have majority Muslim populations. Sikhs and Christians are other significant minorities of India. According to the 2011 census, 79.8% of the population of India practice Hinduism. Islam (14.2%), Christianity (2.3%), Sikhism (1.7%), Buddhism (0.7%) and Jainism (0.4%) are the other major religions followed by the people of India. Many tribal religions, such as Sarnaism, are found in India, though these have been affected by major religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. Jainism,"
"largest and the oldest religion in Asia with more than 1 billion followers. Demographically, it is the largest religion in India (80%), Nepal (81%), and the island of Bali (83.5%), with strong minorities in the Asian nations of Bhutan, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Mayanmar, the Philippines, and Afghanistan. Hinduism is subdivided into a number of major currents, the primary ones being Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Smartism and Shaktism. The vast majority of present-day Hindus can be categorized under one of these four groups, although there are many"
"largest population of people adhering to Zoroastrianism and Bahá'í Faith in the world, even though these two religions are not native to India. Many other world religions also have a relationship with Indian spirituality, such as the Bahá'í Faith which recognises Buddha and Krishna as manifestations of the God Almighty. Despite the strong role of religion in Indian life, atheism and agnostics also have visible influence along with a self-ascribed tolerance to other people. According to the 2012 WIN-Gallup Global Index of Religion and Atheism report, 81% of Indians were religious, 13% were not religious, 3% were convinced atheists, and"
"Hindus 37%. It is to be noted that while participants in the Indian census may choose to not declare their religion, there is no mechanism for a person to indicate that he/she does not adhere to any religion. Due to this limitation in the Indian census process, the data for persons not affiliated with any religion may not be accurate. India contains the majority of the world's Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and Bahá'í. Christianity is widespread in the Northeast India, parts of southern India, particularly in Kerala and among various populations of Central India. Muslims are the largest religious minority."
"are the world's third- and fourth-largest religions respectively, with over 1 billion followers altogether, and possibly as many as 1.5 or 1.6 billion followers. Throughout India's history, religion has been an important part of the country's culture. Religious diversity and religious tolerance are both established in the country by the law and by custom; the Constitution of India has declared the right to freedom of religion to be a fundamental right. Atheism and agnosticism have a long history in India and flourished within Śramaṇa movement. The ""Cārvāka"" school originated in India around the 6th century BCE and is one of"
"by the people of India. In fact, population census has the rare distinction of being the only instrument that collects this diverse and important characteristic of the Indian population. The religious data on India Census 2011 was released by the Government of India on 25 August 2015. Hindus are 79.8% (966.3 million), while Muslims are 14.23% (172.2 million) in India. and Christians are 2.30% (28.7 million). According to the 2011 Census of India, there are 57,264 Parsis in India. For the first time, a ""No religion"" category was added in the 2011 census. 2.87 million were classified as people belonging"
"has region-specific religious practices: for instance, Jammu and Kashmir has a Muslim majority, Punjab has a Sikh majority, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram have Christian majorities and the Indian Himalayan States such as Sikkim and Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and the state of Maharashtra and the Darjeeling District of West Bengal have large concentrations of Buddhist population. The country has significant Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain and Zoroastrian populations. Islam is the largest minority religion in India, and the Indian Muslims form the third largest Muslim population in the world, accounting for over 14 percent of the nation's population. Rajni Kothari, founder"
"(30.79%) following it. Buddhism is followed by 178,307 people (15.17%), Christianity is followed by 10,060 people (0.86%), Jainism by 19,073 (1.62%), Sikhism by 3,427 (0.29%). Around 0.04% stated 'other Religion', and about 0.15% stated 'No Particular Religion'. As one of the largest cities in India, and as a result of its many colleges and universities, Aurangabad is emerging as a prominent location for IT and manufacturing. In 2010, Aurangabad was in news for placing single largest order for Mercedes Benz cars in a single transaction in India — 150 Mercedes Benz cars worth ₹65 crore. Without a local Mercedes-Benz showroom"
"of various religions and races. The majority are Hindus by religion, followed by Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Bahaii and many more. Though most religions in India have been practising religious tolerance in their histories, the partition and subsequent terrorism had created some degree of uneasiness among some. However, in recent years, relations between the different religious groups have considerably changed for better. For instance, a real chunk of India's celebrities - sporting legends, film stars, industrialists, artists, politicians, scientists, head-of-state, etc. - have come from various non-majority roots, representing the true diversity of India. The problem of India's social"
"listed amongst the 22 official languages of India as per the Official Languages Act (1963). Tamil was the first language to be granted classical language status by the Government of India in 2004. Other major languages declared classical were Kannada (in 2008), Telugu (in 2008) and Malayalam (in 2013) Hinduism is the major religion with about 80% of the population adhering to it. About 11% of the population follow Islam and 8% follow Christianity. Evidence of prehistoric religion in South India comes from scattered Mesolithic rock paintings depicting dances and rituals in Stone Age sites such as the Kupgal petroglyphs"
"faiths- 4.957 million-strong Sarnaism, 1.026 million-strong Gond, 506,000-strong Sari, Donyi-Polo (302,000) in Arunachal Pradesh, Sanamahism (222,000) in Manipur, Khasi (138,000) in Meghalaya dominate. Maharashtra is having the highest number of atheists in the country with 9,652 such people, followed by Kerala. Hindi is the most widely spoken language in northern parts of India. The Indian census takes the widest possible definition of ""Hindi"" as a broad variety of ""Hindi languages"". According to 2011 Census, 57.1% of Indian population know Hindi, in which 43.63% of Indian people have declared Hindi as their native language or mother tongue. The language data was"
"the earliest form of materialistic and atheistic movement in ancient India. Sramana, Buddhism, Jainism, Ājīvika and some schools of Hinduism like Samkhya consider atheism to be valid and reject the concept of creator deity, ritualism and supernaturalism. India has produced some notable atheist politicians and social reformers. According to the 2011 census, 79.8% of the population of India practices Hinduism and 14.2% adheres to Islam, while the remaining 7.37% adheres to other religions, mostly Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Christianity. Zoroastrianism and Judaism each has several thousands of Indian adherents, and also have an ancient history in India. India has the"
"then engage in lifelong Sannyasa (monastic practices) to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings (ahimsa), patience, forbearance, self-restraint, and compassion, among others. The four largest denominations of Hinduism are the Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Smartism. Hinduism is the world's third largest religion; its followers, known as Hindus, constitute about 1.15 billion, or 15–16% of the global population. Hinduism is the most widely professed faith in India, Nepal and Mauritius. It is also the predominant religion in Bali, Indonesia. Significant Hindu communities are also found in the Caribbean, Africa, North America, and"
"in electoral politics in post-independence India. Hindu religiosity plays an important role in the nationalist movement. Hinduism is a major religion in India. Hinduism was followed by around 79.8% of the country's population of 1.21 billion (2011 census) (960 million adherents). Other significant populations are found in Nepal (23 million), Bangladesh (15 million) and the Indonesian island of Bali (3.9 million). The majority of the Vietnamese Cham people also follow Hinduism, with the largest proportion in Ninh Thuận Province. Countries with the greatest proportion of Hindus: Demographically, Hinduism is the world's third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam. In the"
"to be between 25% and 31% of entire Muslim population of India, which accounts them in numbers between 40 to 50 million of a total of 172 million Muslims in India. Christianity is a monotheistic religion centred on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in the New Testament. It is the third largest religion of India, making up 2.3% of the population. St. Thomas is credited with introduction of Christianity in India. He arrived on the Malabar Coast in 52 AD. Christians comprise a majority in Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya and have significant populations in Kerala and Goa."
"of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Of the 1.21 billion Indians, 833 million (68.84%) live in rural areas while 377 million stay in urban areas. 453.6 million people in India are migrants, which is 37.8% of total population. India is the homeland of major belief systems such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism, while also being home to several indigenous faiths and tribal religions which have survived the influence of major religions for centuries. Ever since its inception, the Census of India has been collecting and publishing information about the religious affiliations as expressed"
"Islam in India Islam is the second largest religion in India, with 14.2% of the country's population or roughly 172 million people identifying as adherents of Islam (2011 census) as an ethnoreligious group. Islam first came to the western coast of India when Arab traders as early as the 7th century CE came to coastal Malabar and Konkan-Gujarat. Cheraman Juma Mosque in Kerala is thought to be the first mosque in India, built in 629 CE by Malik Deenar. Following an expedition by the governor of Bahrain to Bharuch in the 7th century CE, immigrant Arab and Persian trading communities"
"Christianity in India Christianity is India's third most followed religion according to the census of 2011, with approximately 28 million followers, constituting 2.3 percent of India's population. It is traditionally believed that Christianity was introduced to India by Thomas the Apostle, who supposedly landed in Kerala in 52 AD. There is a general scholarly consensus that Christianity was established in India by the 6th century AD, including some communities who used Syriac liturgies. It is possible that the religion's existence extends as far back as the purported time of St. Thomas's arrival. Christians are found all across India and in"
"(i.e. Parsis and Iranis) and Bahá'í Faith in the world, even though these religions are not native to India. Many other world religions also have a relationship with Indian spirituality, such as the Baha'i faith which recognises the Buddha and Krishna as manifestations of the God Almighty. India has the third largest Shia population in the world and being the cradle of Ahmadiyya Islam, it is one of the countries in the world with at least 2 million Ahmadi Muslims. The shrines of some of the most famous saints of Sufism, like Moinuddin Chishti and Nizamuddin Auliya, are found in"
"traders during the early centuries of the Common Era. To the west, Greater India overlaps with Greater Persia in the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains. Over the centuries, there has been significant fusion of cultures between Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jains, Sikhs and various tribal populations in India. India is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and other religions. They are collectively known as Indian religions. Indian religions are a major form of world religions along with Abrahamic ones. Today, Hinduism and Buddhism are the world's third and fourth-largest religions respectively, with over 2 billion followers altogether, and possibly as"
"concentrated in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, while the Muslims are concentrated in Afghanistan (99%), Bangladesh (90%), Pakistan (96%) and Maldives (100%). Indian religions are the religions that originated in the India; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. The Indian religions are distinct yet share terminology, concepts, goals and ideas, and from South Asia spread into East Asia and southeast Asia. Early Christianity and Islam were introduced into coastal regions of South Asia by merchants who settled among the local populations. Later Sindh, Balochistan, and parts of the Punjab region saw conquest by the Arab caliphates along with an"
"of Christian denominations in India."" In India, Christian Population is 27.8 millions as per latest figure of 2011 Census which is about 2.3% of total Indian Population. Christianity is dominant religion in North East states of Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Manipur while they make substantial population in states of Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Andaman Nicobar Islands. A 2015 study estimates some 40,000 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to Protestantism. The arrival of European colonialists brought about large-scale missionary activity in South India and North-East India. Some indigenous"
"to a major religion. The largest and best-known tribal religion of India is that of the Santhal of Orissa. In 1991, there were some 24,000 Indians belonging to the Santhal community who identified explicitly as adherents of the Santhal traditional religion in the Indian census, as opposed to 300,000 who identified as Christians. Among the Munda people and Oraons of Bihar, about 25 % of the population are Christian. Among the Kharia people of Bihar (population about 130,000), about 60 % are Christians, but all are heavily influenced by Folk Hinduism. Tribal groups in the Himalayas were similarly affected by"
"set of beliefs. Hinduism, with about one billion followers is the world's third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam. Hinduism has been called the ""oldest religion"" in the world and is traditionally called """", ""the eternal law"" or the ""eternal way""; beyond human origins. Western scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no single founder. Some of the earliest surviving philosophical texts are the Upanishads of the later Vedic period (1000–500 BCE). Important Indian philosophical concepts include dharma, karma, samsara, moksha and ahimsa. Indian philosophers developed a system of"
"form the majority, followed by Muslims. The statistics are: Hindu (80.5%), Muslim (13.4%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (2.1%), Buddhist, Bahá'í, Jain, Jew and Parsi populations. Linguistically, the two main language families in India are Indo-Aryan (a branch of Indo-European) and Dravidian. In India's northeast, people speaking Sino-Tibetan group of languages such as Meitei (Meitei-lon) recognized by the Indian constitution and Austroasiatic languages are commonly found. India (officially) follows a three-language policy. Hindi (spoken in the form of Hindustani) is the official federal language, English has the federal status of associate/subsidiary official language and each state has its own state official language"
"Hinduism by country Hinduism has over 1.1 billion adherents worldwide (15–16% of world's population) with the majority living in India and Nepal. Along with Christianity (31.5%), Islam (23.2%) and Buddhism (7.1%), Hinduism is one of the four major religions of the world by percentage of population. India,Nepal and Mauritius are three Hindu majority countries. Most Hindus are found in Asian countries. The countries with more than 500,000 Hindu residents and citizens include (in decreasing order) – India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia (especially in Bali- 84% Hindu), Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, United States, Myanmar, United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Mauritius, the Caribbean"